Funny thing. Albums are usually overrated in customer review sections of stores. Usually only people who love the album will bother to review an item. At HMV, Variety has by far the lowest rating of the Tokyo Jihen albums with a score of 51. Kyouiku is scored at 94 and Adult is at 97. I don't think there's a "small minority" of haters on this one.

__________________I'd rather have a life of "oh wells" than a life of "what ifs"

Although I believe Karuki Zamen Kuri no hana is Shiina´s masterpiece, I frankly find Shouso Strip as my favorite album. I may sound weird or incongruous, but somehow SS is the album I enjoy listening the most as a unit.

I think SS is also more rewarding on repeated listens, it's much more layered and complex than MM, which is pretty straightforward. I personally think the qualitative jump between MM and SS is immense, and while MM was a pretty good album by any standards, it's on SS where she really became brilliant.